


of track meets and heartbeats

by fallenhurricane



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Sports, Betaed, Discord: Malec Server, Injury, Injury Recovery, M/M, Mundane Alec Lightwood, Mundane Magnus Bane, high school idiots in love, i kind of forgot max exists?? sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-29
Updated: 2020-08-29
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:29:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26173498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fallenhurricane/pseuds/fallenhurricane
Summary: Alec takes a deep breath and rolls his shoulders, bouncing from foot to foot. He adjusts his grip on the pole one last time before starting his run.His run feels good and right; his knees are pulling up high and the pole is steady, if a bit lighter than normal, in his hands. As he approaches the crossbar, he straightens and speeds up a bit, extending his arms above him. The bottom of the pole settles into the plant box and Alec swings himself forward and up, just as he’s done hundreds of times before.But.But.While Alec has plans to clear this jump and advance to set his personal record, the pole that Camille loaned him has a different idea.OR: The high school track team injury AU nobody asked for.
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 36
Kudos: 165
Collections: Malec Discord Mini Bang 2020





	of track meets and heartbeats

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was created for the Malec Discord Mini Bang 2020 hosted by the [Malec Discord Server](https://discord.gg/5nBgEp8).
> 
> Thank you so much to my lovely beta, [Jessa](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jessa/pseuds/Jessa)! Please check them out, they're excellent. I couldn't have finished this without them!
> 
> Shout out to [PinstripedJackalope](https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinstripedJackalope/pseuds/pinstripedJackalope) as well! I got the idea for Magnus gardening from them!
> 
> And shout out to [Aros_Sage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aros_Sage/pseuds/Aros_Sage) who gave me amazing details about what it’s like running track!

It happens on a Thursday.

Alec’s vaulting pole is broken; or, rather, it’s in danger of breaking. It fell out of the bus as they unloaded their equipment and bounced down the steep drive behind DuMort High. 

Coach Garroway warns him not to use it, worried it may crack. So Alec listens. He’s not stupid, and he’s certainly not itching to fall, not during the second meet of his senior year. 

The equipment manager from DuMort — a girl named Camille — offers to loan him a pole, since they have more laying around than the Alicante team brought with them. He gives her his weight so that she can get him one that’s properly graded, and she heads off to the equipment shed. 

Which has led to this. Alec is standing at the end of the runway to the jump, an unfamiliar pole in his hands. He’s been training for the past month to set his new personal record at this meet, a height of 15’7”. So of course he’s a bit pissed that he can’t use his pole. His first jump is set at a lower height, a bit of a warm up at 15’2”. Still high enough to ensure he places.

Alec takes a deep breath and rolls his shoulders, bouncing from foot to foot. He adjusts his grip on the pole one last time before starting his run. 

His run feels good and right; his knees are pulling up high and the pole is steady, if a bit lighter than normal, in his hands. As he approaches the crossbar, he straightens and speeds up a bit, extending his arms above him. The bottom of the pole settles into the plant box and Alec swings himself forward and up, just as he’s done hundreds of times before.

But. 

But. 

While Alec has plans to clear this jump and advance to set his personal record, the pole that Camille loaned him has a different idea. 

He’s almost at the apex of his vault when the pole snaps into three. Alec scrabbles a bit at the air before realizing there’s nothing he can do to stop himself from falling. Trying to get his feet under him, he rotates a little, still holding part of the pole. Everything feels as if it’s moving in slow motion — he can hear Coach Garroway shout, see his teammates watching with wide eyes — until suddenly, with a sickening thud, he lands heavily in the plant box, legs giving out from under him.

Jace and Garroway are there before Alec even registers the pain. When he does, it’s overwhelming. His whole body aches from the slam into the metal box, despite the cushioning mats surrounding it, and his right thigh in particular is searing in pain. He lets out a gasp when he looks down and sees his knee cap sitting below where it should be. 

Alec is gaping, tears prickling the back of his eyes. He’s never been in this much pain — it arcs up his leg, from his knee to his hip, searing. He grits his teeth against it, tears slipping unbidden down his cheeks. Fuck. 

“Holy shit,” are the first words out of Jace’s mouth. He looks on, stunned and confused, as a medic rushes over, takes one look at Alec’s leg, and tells them that he needs to go to the hospital. Together, Jace, Garroway, and the medic help Alec stumble off to a pile of mats. When Garroway turns to talk to the medic and call an ambulance, Alec tries to straighten his leg and grunts lowly in pain. 

Jace places a firm hand on his shoulder. “Knock it off, stop moving.” 

Alec’s mind spins as they wait for the ambulance. The pieces of the broken pole still lay on the vault course, and the other vaulters are huddled together, talking quietly. Alec bites his lip.

So much for his personal record.

***

It’s Tuesday before Alec returns to school. Jace parks in the senior lot and Izzy gets out first from the backseat, opening Alec’s door for him. 

“I’m fine, Izzy,” Alec says, swinging his crutches around his body and placing them on the asphalt. He hefts himself out of the sedan and turns slowly to grab his backpack from the footwell. He stumbles a bit, his leg useless in a long knee immobilizer, but catches himself with a hand on the car roof. When he turns back, Izzy is watching him with arms crossed and a brow raised. “I’m fine.” 

Jace has rounded the car and is standing beside her, bag slung over his shoulders. He looks as unimpressed as their sister.

“I didn’t say you weren’t,” Izzy says. Alec glares at her. “I didn’t. But, Alec, c’mon.” She gestures at Alec’s brace and crutches. “You’re gonna have to let people help you.”

He slams the car door shut in response and makes his way to the school, ignoring Jace and Izzy whispering behind him. His first hurdle is the front door. He tucks one of his crutches under his arm as he reaches for the handle. But when he leans forward minutely, his crutch clatters to the ground. Jace picks it up before he can even begin to bend over and holds it out silently, but with a small smile. 

It’s gonna be a long day. 

***

Coach Garroway had made it clear that Alec didn’t need to come to practice that week. “Go home and rest,” is exactly what he said. “You need to be off your feet. A torn quad doesn’t heal quickly.”

But, as Alec makes his way down the paved path to Alicante High’s track, he reasons that he can be off his feet on the bleachers just as well as he can be off of them at home. So he ignores the stern look that Garroway shoots his way even as he stands talking to the discus throwers and makes his way awkwardly across the gravel in front of the bleachers. Alec settles down on the very bottom seat, rotating so that he can rest his leg on the bench instead of having it stick out awkwardly towards the ground. 

He’s just pulled a notebook full of math homework out of his bag when he hears something. A boy in a walking boot heads in his direction, the weight of the boot crunching loudly on the gravel. Alec recognizes him, with his black faux-hawk and dark eyeliner, vaguely, as a teammate. Maybe a hurdler? Alec doesn’t really know him very well. 

The boy seats himself on the other side of Alec’s leg, giving him space. “Hey,” he says, and his voice is melodic. “How are you feeling?”

Alec’s face must give away that he has absolutely no clue who this boy is, because when he begins to stutter out an, “I-I’m fine?” the boy chuckles and cuts him off. 

“I’m Magnus,” he says. Alec nods. “No dice? I run sprints and relays. Well” — he pauses and raises his boot off the ground for a moment — “ran, more like.”

“What happened?” Alec asks, staring at the big black boot. It clashes with Magnus’s outfit — tight black jeans and a deep purple v-neck topped with a denim jacket — but somehow it doesn’t look dorky on him. His other foot has a black Converse knotted around it. Alec feels a bit self conscious about his stained Nikes and ratty hoodie. He fidgets with the notebook in his lap. 

Magnus hums, glaring at the boot on his foot. “Fractured my ankle. Twisted it during practice a couple weeks back and then again during the meet at Seelie High.” He glances up at Alec. “It wasn’t nearly as bad as your fall, though.”

Alec swallows. It’s only been a week but he doesn’t like thinking about the fall, the way the pole broke beneath his hands or the feeling of gravity suddenly dragging him down. It was unsettling, to say the least. He suppresses a shudder, looks at the gravel beneath his sneakered foot. “You heard about that?”

“The whole school’s heard about it, darling,” Magnus says, and Alec almost chokes at how effortlessly he says it. Magnus doesn’t seem to notice. “But no, I was there.” There’s a silence. Alec keeps staring at the gravel, shifting his foot a bit, and Magnus seems to pick up on the fact that he doesn’t want to talk about the accident. He unzips his own bag and pulls out a copy of Great Expectations. “I assume since you’re here, you get that I didn’t want to miss a meet despite not being able to participate.” Alec looks up, and Magnus is smiling crookedly at him. He shrugs. “I can’t run but it’s still my team, y’know?” 

Alec nods. He gets it. He’s been coming to track practice after school with many of the same teammates since seventh grade. Being anywhere else would feel wrong. “I know.”

Magnus’s grin widens. “Plus, if I wasn’t here, my mother would be making me pull weeds.” Alec just raises his eyebrows, and Magnus shrugs, laughing. “She likes to keep a clean garden. But it’s hell in this boot” — he gestures to it, raising it off the gravel again — “especially when it’s a billion degrees out. Feels like my foot went to a sauna and left the rest of me behind.”

Alec snorts. “I can imagine.” He tucks his notebook back into his bag. 

It doesn’t look like he’ll be getting any work done anytime soon. 

****

By Thursday of the next week, Alec and Magnus have their routine downpat. They meet at the bleachers by the track; Alec lifts his leg to rest on the seat next to him, and Magnus sits on the other side of his foot. They work on homework, or pretend to, sitting with it in their laps as they watch their teammates stretch, sprint, and jump. 

One of the other vaulters, a girl named Catarina, is setting up her run when Alec lets out a deep sigh. He shuffles the French homework on his lap, crinkling the pages beneath his suddenly tense fingers. 

“You alright?” 

Magnus is looking at him, brow furrowed. Alec tries to smile, but the corners of his mouth are pulling downward despite his efforts. He wrinkles his nose. “I just…” He gestures at the field in front of them, the field equipment sprawled near the runway and their teammates going about their exercises, and pinches the bridge of his nose. 

“I know.” Magnus sighs. “You wouldn’t think it’s possible to miss running as much as I do. I even miss the nervous cramps I get before a relay. I get where you’re coming from, Alec.” When Alec glances at him, he looks thoughtful. “How about we get out of here?”

Alec raises a brow. “And go where?” 

Magnus shrugs. “Who cares?” 

And Alec watches as Magnus leans over, grabs his bag, and shoves his homework inside before grabbing Alec’s bag off the bench behind him. He holds it out to him, waiting. A silent question. 

Alec closes his notebook. 

****

“I really don’t think I can bowl on crutches, Magnus.”

Magnus cackles as he pulls into a parking spot, his booted foot leaning against the door. “You just need one of those ramps.”

“Magnus,” Alec groans. But he isn’t prepared for the puppy dog eyes Magnus throws his way, complete with a pouty lip. And he isn’t prepared for the sudden thought that crosses his mind — the observation about how cute Magnus is, and like, yeah, of course he’s noticed in the past week, but for fuck’s sake, dude, cut him some slack. It’s senior year. He’s busy applying to colleges and taking exams and healing his torn fucking quad. “Fine.”

Magnus grins and opens his door, sliding out. Alec takes the moment he’s alone to take a deep breath and run a hand through his hair before Magnus appears outside his window. “Alexander,” he says, opening the vaulter’s door. And while Alec may have been annoyed when Izzy had done the same thing that very morning despite his protests, he finds he doesn’t mind at all when it’s Magnus, which is confusing to say the least. “Come along. Bowling waits for no man.”

****

Just as they had found a routine at track practice, they find a routine in bowling. Magnus goes first, pushing his ball down the lane with an underarm heave. 

He straightens, smiling ruefully, as his ball knocks three pins to the polished floor. “Normally I would do this properly but this boot really does hinder my motion, y’know?” he says, and he pulls over the short silver ramp for Alec, places another ball on top, and watches as Alec shoves it down the lane. 

Honestly, it’s not the most exciting bowling outing, but given that they’re each in a cast, Alec’s sure it could be worse. At the very least, he’s finding that he doesn’t mind — or, even more, he enjoys — spending time with Magnus away from Alicante’s campus. And he realizes that a small part of his mind is trying to figure out how to convince Magnus to hang out with him again. 

Coffee, maybe? Every high school student likes coffee, right?

“Alexander?” 

Alec shakes himself; Magnus is watching him with a smirk, hip quirked and eyes glinting. 

“Your turn,” Magnus says, gesturing to the ramp and ball set up next to him, angled a bit to dump the ball directly into the gutter. 

Alec rolls his eyes, but he can’t stop his small smile.

Something about hanging out with Magnus makes Alec feel… different. Different than he feels hanging out with Jace and Izzy, or their friends, mostly Simon and Clary. It makes his stomach feel floaty and a little chaotic, and it makes him want to touch, which is something he’s never felt before. It’s all very bewildering and when Magnus claps as Alec’s ball goes clunking into the gutter, he realizes that what started as a friendship of coincidence and perhaps convenience is morphing into something he really cares about. 

Fuck.

****

They start skipping practice more after that. Garroway had told Magnus after the Seelie High meet that he needed to take it easy as well, and the looks the coach had been giving the two of them as they sat and watched on the bleachers were indication enough that that wasn’t what he meant. But he doesn’t need to know that when Magnus and Alec aren’t there, working on homework and watching their teammates train, they’re not strictly resting either. 

The next time they skip after bowling is actually Alec’s idea. It’s Wednesday. His shoulders are aching. He feels tense from listening to Jace — who’d been avoiding the topic until Alec assured him it was okay, which, really, was an idiotic move on his part — describe how close he was to making his own personal best of 14’10” in training. He’s also sore from carrying his stupidly heavy backpack and sore from using his stupid crutches and the last thing he wants to do is sit on the bleachers, even if the weather is nice today, and watch his brother vault while he can’t even walk. 

He catches Magnus at his locker after last period. 

“Hey,” he says, watching as Magnus shuffles some textbooks and binders between his bag and his locker. “You wanna go to my place?”

Magnus raises a brow at him and slows his sorting, shoving a worn copy of Catch-22 into his bag before turning to face him. “Why, Alexander, I’m flattered at such a proposition. But don’t you want to watch practice?”

Alec ignores the reddening of his face. “You know that’s not what I meant,” he says, glancing back and forth down the rapidly emptying hall. Magnus laughs lightly. “And no, I don’t want to be there today.” He shifts his weight and leans on his crutches. “I figured we could watch TV or...nevermind, it’s stupid, I don’t-“

“Alec.” Magnus rests a hand gently on Alec’s shoulder. “It’s not stupid. I’d love to.” 

Magnus leads the way to his car, keys dangling from his hand as Alec trails just behind him. He pops Alec’s door open for him before rounding to the driver’s side, and Alec’s heart thumps a bit heavier, a bit faster. He wills it to calm down, chewing on his lip as Magnus slides into his own seat. 

“Do you mind if we swing by my house first?” Magnus asks, starting the ignition. “I need to drop off some forms that Garroway signed today.”

“Of course,” Alec says, and they talk easily about school and classes as Magnus drives in the opposite direction from Alec’s house and pulls up outside a cozy-looking two-story home not far from the mall. 

“Alright, I’ll be right back!” Magnus says, and he retrieves something from his backpack. Something small and heavy falls onto the car floor with a thud. Alec’s brows furrow, but Magnus just smiles sheepishly and holds up a spare shoe spike. “I swear I don’t even know where these come from anymore,” he says. He shoves it in his pocket, adds, “Two seconds,” and plods his way up the driveway. 

Alec watches, and then looks around the yard. There’s a lovely and lush flower bed running along the front of the porch, and flower boxes on the windows filled with chrysanthemums and pansies, celosias and asters. 

Even as he observes the yard, Alec’s mind wanders back to Magnus, their easy conversations, and that day at the bowling alley. 

Alec hadn’t fared very well with the ramp, but Magnus and his boot hadn’t fared much better, so all was fair in his mind. After four years of basically only associating with Izzy and Jace, who he’s known his entire life, and their best friends — Simon, Maia, Clary, and Helen — having someone who is so easy to talk to and unrelated to him is a whole new experience. He’s not completely sure how he feels about it, besides knowing that he thinks Magnus is cute and nice and funny. And for some reason Alec doesn’t mind when he opens the door for him and... 

And Magnus is walking back out to the car right now. 

Alec blinks a couple times and holds up both hands in peace signs as Magnus slips back into the car. Magnus’s nose crinkles in confused amusement. When Magnus turns his attention to driving, Alec cringes, but Magnus doesn’t seem to notice.

“Where to, Alexander?” 

****

And that’s how they end up in the basement of the Lightwood home, side by side on the microfiber sofa, playing video games. And Alec is relieved to see it’s easier to ignore Magnus’s proximity — and the way his good left knee touches Magnus’s good right knee — when they’re engrossed in Mario Kart.

“Fuck off with your red shells, Alexander!” 

“No — I gotta win this one!”

Magnus throws a gentle elbow into Alec’s side and Alec wheezes, laughing, as Magnus’s Bowser goes spiraling. 

“I still can’t believe you main Bowser,” Alec says, steering his Yoshi past Magnus with a honk. 

Magnus shrugs. “I’m a jock.”

Alec glances at him, squinting. “What.”

Magnus quickly hurls a banana peel in front of him, and Alec drives right into it, cursing. “I was going to say something about it being in the jock code but I really just wanted to distract you.”

“Mission accomplished, punk,” Alec teases. Magnus crosses the finish line in front of him, Bowser raising a hand in the air, waving. 

“Punk?!” Magnus whirls around, looking happy but surprised. Alec’s eyes widen. “You’re gonna get it now, Lightwood,” he says, reaching out and pinching Alec’s waist. Alec startles at the touch, face heating up, stomach reeling, and quickly hits the button to start a new race.

As the starting buzzer sounds, Bowser takes off in front.

****

Alec’s tapping at his keyboard on a Saturday morning, trying to work on homework and ignore thoughts of Magnus’s Bowser and their touching knees, when Izzy opens his door and demands a coffee date.

“C’mon, Alec, I feel like I haven’t seen you in forever.”

“We live together, Iz.”

Izzy gives Alec an unimpressed look from where she stands in his doorway, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “Alec.”

He looks up from his laptop, shifting against his headboard. “Fine, I’ll bite. What do you want?”

“Let’s go get coffee.”

Alec groans.

“C’mon, we haven’t talked in weeks!”

“What is there to talk about?” 

“I dunno,” Izzy says, inspecting her fingernails briefly before staring pointedly at Alec. “Maybe the guy Jace says you’ve been hanging out with every day?”

Alec sighs and closes his laptop. 

***

Java Jones has its typical Saturday morning crowd when Alec and Izzy make their way inside. Izzy convinces Alec to sit at a table while she goes to get their drinks — it’s not like he can carry one anyway, but he does refuse to let her pay — and then they settle in to catch up. Alec leans his crutches against his chair.

“So,” Izzy starts, playing with the straw of her iced latte, “Who’s this guy?”

Alec waves his hand dismissively. He loves his sister but he’s not even sure how he feels about Magnus, and he certainly doesn’t want to talk about him. “Just a teammate.”

“A teammate Jace doesn’t even know. Who you’ve been skipping practice with. Getting rides with. And having over to the house.”

Alec takes a sip of his Americano and says nothing.

Izzy purses her lips, nudging Alec’s good foot under the table. “C’mon, you can talk to me.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Alec says. He begins ripping up a napkin. 

Izzy raises a brow at him. “Sure, and that napkin deserves a morbid death.”

He drops his hands on the table. “Can’t we talk about you? How’re classes going? Aren’t you on the prom committee or something?”

“No,” she answers. “Classes are fine. And it’s October.”

“Is it?” He glances out the window next to them. “I was sure it was spring.”

“Alec, seriously, you haven’t had any real friends for, like, the entirety of high school.”

“Thanks,” he snorts, but she’s right and he knows it.

“I’m right and you know it.”

Well.

“So, who’s this guy?”

Alec relents with a sigh. “His name is Magnus. He’s a sprinter and relay runner and he broke his ankle about a week before my fall.” He pauses, sips his coffee. Izzy waits. “So we’ve been watching practices together, and sometimes doing other stuff.” Izzy smirks and her eyes get bright, and Alec knows that look. He holds up a hand. “Not like that, thanks. Like, we went bowling. And we played video games. That’s all.” He shrugs and fiddles with the torn napkin again. 

Izzy raises a brow again. “That’s all?”

Alec frowns. “Yes?”

“Oh my god. You’re an idiot.”

“What?”

“Alec, you haven’t spoken that much about somebody in ages. Let alone to somebody.”

“You kind of dragged it outta me, Iz.”

Izzy rolls her eyes. “My point stands.”

Alec matches her eye-roll with one of his own. “Fine, whatever. So?”

“So? Are you really just friends?”

In retrospect, Alec should’ve been expecting this question. Izzy’s known that Alec likes guys about as long as he has; which is to say, since he was 15 or so and had a crush on their 17 year old neighbor who trained for lacrosse shirtless in his backyard and gave Alec tips on asking out girls. 

“Oh my god, what is this, an interrogation? Yes, we’re friends,” Alec says, exasperated. He may not want to just be friends, but that’s what they are, so he’s not technically lying. 

“So if you’re friends you won’t mind if I order a coffee for him and we take it to him?” Her brown eyes sparkle in the mid-morning light flooding in from the window. “I’m dying to meet him.” 

****

It’s not that Alec remembered Magnus’s coffee order on purpose. It’s just that he knows that Magnus shows up to school sometimes with a hazelnut iced coffee in hand, usually finishing it up when Alec appears at his locker to say hi. Because yeah, sometimes Alec swings by his locker in the morning. It’s not a big deal. 

It’s also not like Alec remembered Magnus’s home address on purpose. He just has a mind for directions, and can retrace the route they took back behind the mall easily. From there, it’s just a matter of spotting the flowers. 

Izzy grins as she turns into the drive. Alec shakes his head at her as she parks, pulling himself from his seat and trying to figure out how to carry Magnus’s coffee, while also handling his crutches, when he hears, “Alexander?”

He turns, and there’s Magnus, sitting on his ass and leaning around the corner of the house. His normally coiffed hair is unstyled, laying across his forehead in sweaty strands, and there’s dirt smeared down one cheek. 

“What’re you doing?” Alec asks, grinning at the sight. He takes a step forward, crutches digging into the soft grass.

Magnus squints before looking down at his own sweat-and-dirt-stained t-shirt; his eyes widen and Alec can see his Adam’s apple bob as he swallows. “I’m weeding.”

“You were serious about that?” 

“Yes?”

“Oh.” Alec smiles, glances around at the flower beds and boxes. “They look good.”

“Thanks?” Magnus scoots into full view and Alec notices his soiled floral gardening gloves, single green Croc, and walking boot. As he heaves himself to his feet and brushes off his rear end, Magnus says, “What’re you doing here?”

“We brought you a drink,” Izzy says, standing behind Alec, and he and Magnus both startle. “Here.” She offers the cup to Magnus. “Hazelnut iced coffee.”

Magnus takes the cup, mouth open in wonder. “You know my order?”

Alec’s face reddens.

Izzy nudges his shoulder lightly, but when he stays silent, she says, “Anyway, I’m Izzy. Alec’s sister. I just wanted to meet the person who’s managed to get Alec to talk to him.” She smirks. Alec rolls his eyes, shaking his head at Magnus, who meets his eyes and smiles. “It’s more rare than you think.”

Magnus chuckles. “Thank you, Izzy, but he’s really not that bad.” He sends a wink to Alec. Alec ignores the butterflies that erupt in his stomach at the simple action. “Except for when he’s playing Mario Kart.”

“Oh my god, isn’t he the worst?” Izzy says. 

“He was pelting me with red shells—”

“He always gets so many!”

“Okay, alright,” Alec says, tapping Izzy’s leg with a crutch. “We should probably, uh, go. Let Magnus weed the garden and such.” Magnus wrinkles his nose and Izzy laughs. 

“Yeah, I should get back to it I guess,” Magnus sighs. “It was nice to meet you, Izzy!” He takes a sip of his coffee as she turns to round the car. Alec waves and opens his own door. “And thank you, Alexander. The coffee is perfect.”

Alec flushes and he and Izzy wave as they back out of the driveway. It’s not until they round the corner and pause at a stop sign that Izzy turns to look at him, smiling smugly.

“Not a word,” he says, avoiding her gaze.

“Sure thing, Alexander.”

Alec flips her off.

****

Magnus gets his boot off the following week. Alec doesn’t realize it’s been six weeks until he’s settled on the bleachers to observe practice, and Magnus, sans boot, slowly makes his way over to him.

“Hey!” Alec says. He looks Magnus up and down, suddenly having deja vu of the first time they’d met. Magnus is wearing the same denim jacket and black Converse he was then, only now he has both of the shoes on. He’s wearing fitted joggers and a green hoodie under his jacket. “Holy shit, you got your cast off!”

Magnus beams at him, sitting next to Alec and holding his left foot out in front of him. “The doctor said it’s good as new. Well, no. I’m still out of running for the year and it’s definitely weak. Ragnor and Raphael will have to carry the relay with Lorenzo in my shoes.” He lets out a small regretful sigh before smiling again. ”But my bones are healed, anyway.” He shrugs.

Alec hates the feeling of relief that floods through him when Magnus clarifies that he still can’t run. For a second he was afraid that he’d be left to sit on the bleachers alone. That things would go back, sort of, to how they were before he knew the sprinter. He knows he should’ve been relieved in the opposite direction, if Magnus was allowed to run again. Alec pushes this to the back of his head for now and smiles at Magnus. “That’s incredible. I’m so happy for you.” And he finds he’s not lying, not even a little bit. If it were Jace in Magnus’s shoes, or Raj, or any of their other teammates, Alec can so easily picture himself being envious of their progress. But for Magnus he only feels happiness. And that pesky relief.

“Thank you, Alexander,” Magnus says. He gently pats Alec’s right thigh where it’s angled in front of them, and Alec ignores how warm and comforting his hand is. How he’d like him very much to leave it there. Magnus folds his hands back in his lap and Alec tries not to show his disappointment. “How much longer do you have in the brace?”

“Another week, then we go from there.” Alec looks down at the long black brace that’s been more or less holding his healing leg together for the past five weeks. He knows it’ll feel odd to start going without it, just as it had been adjusting to it. “I start physical therapy first and then figure out when I can start walking again. It’ll probably take awhile.”

Magnus shoots him a soft smile. “Well,” he says, “I’m not going anywhere.”

****

Alec’s bedroom is on the second story of the Lightwood house. For the first week after his fall, he’d slept on the living room sofa, and ever since then, he’s made his way slowly up the stairs, relying on the bannister and one of his crutches. Usually, he scoots down on his butt. 

So, of course, the first time he tries getting down the stairs on his feet one of his crutches catches on the carpet and he loses balance. When he lands on the hardwood floor below, he groans. Maryse appears above him almost immediately. 

“Are you okay?” she asks, kneeling next to him. 

He leans his head back to rest on the floor and takes a deep breath, taking stock. His right leg is throbbing in a way it hasn’t in weeks and when the thought that he may have just fucked up his recovery pops into his head, he nearly sobs. 

Maryse must see this on his face despite his silence, because she opens the door and calls Jace inside from where he was playing basketball, and the two of them help Alec up and to the sofa. Maryse arranges a couple of throw pillows neatly beneath Alec’s leg, and Jace disappears and comes back with an ice pack wrapped in a dishcloth, handing it to his brother before falling back into the armchair nearby. 

“Why don’t you stay home tomorrow?” Maryse says as she reaches for the TV remote and hands it to Alec. 

He groans, moving the ice pack a bit. “I can’t, Mom. I have a quiz in French and a paper due-”

“Alec,” Maryse cuts him off. “Let me rephrase. You’re staying home tomorrow.” 

“But-”

She holds up a hand, and Jace smirks. “No buts. You need to let yourself rest, and you’re going to be sore tomorrow. I’ll call the school in the morning. If you listen to me, maybe you can go back on Tuesday.” When Alec rolls his eyes, she smiles and presses a kiss to his hair. “Let me know if it gets worse and I’ll call Dr. Starkweather.”

This is how Alec ends up spending a late October morning on his sofa instead of in his calculus class, and then French class, and then...well, it doesn’t really matter. Alec turns on the TV to stop himself from eyeing the clock all day, calculating what class he should be in. He settles on Family Feud, drags a blanket over himself, and eventually falls asleep.

He sleeps soundly through the day, and is only woken up when Maryse rubs his shoulder. “Alec?” 

He mumbles in response, turns and buries his face deeper into the cushions of the sofa.

“You have a visitor,” she says, laughing.

Alec jerks upright and looks around wildly. Magnus stands in the doorway, smiling softly, head tilted to the side and eyeliner dark. 

Alec feels a pang of...something. Something like comfort. It’s Tuesday. He last saw Magnus on Friday. But it’s like he missed him and didn’t even know.

Maryse leaves them alone and Alec takes a second to thank the universe that Jace is at track practice and Izzy’s at quiz bowl. Magnus just stays where he is, looking.

“You can come in,” Alec says, pulling himself into a sitting position and running a hand through his hair. He hadn’t brushed it that morning and he’s sure it‘s standing up at all angles. Magnus crosses the threshold and sits on the arm of the sofa by Alec’s socked feet, left uncovered by the too-short blanket. “What are you doing here? Not that it’s...I mean, I’m happy to see you, just-”

He’s cut off by Magnus’s gentle laugh. “You weren’t at school today.”

Alec frowns, looking down at the blanket on his lap, the remote and the empty glass of water on the coffee table. “No.”

“So I didn’t know what happened,” Magnus continues. “I was worried, I guess.” Alec can feel his face heating up, and he opens his mouth to say something, to reassure Magnus he’s okay or — he’s not sure — when Magnus continues, “I brought you your assignments,” and turns to open his backpack.

Alec gapes at him. He hadn’t even asked Izzy or Jace to stop by and ask his teachers for his work. He didn’t want to bother them with it. But Magnus, whom he doesn’t share any classes with, had taken it upon himself to go and get it all. The same weird feeling from before takes root in Alec’s stomach; something sort of floaty and nauseating but not altogether unpleasant.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he finally says as Magnus hands him a small stack of papers, each with ‘Alexander’ written across the top in neat handwriting. 

“It gave me an excuse to check on you,” Magnus says openly, then shrugs. “Apparently, we never thought to trade phone numbers.”

Alec feels caught in a riptide. Magnus is speaking too bluntly and openly and all the feelings Alec hasn’t allowed himself to think about are sitting just beneath the surface. He swallows thickly and digs around in the cushions beneath him before finding his phone. “Let’s fix that, then?”

****

Texting Magnus is, it turns out, nearly as easy as talking to him. It’s only a touch more difficult because now Alec has the chance to think harder, longer, about everything he’s about to say and he has to talk himself out of overthinking it several times (and Izzy gives him a light slap on the shoulder once, too, when she looks over, sees who he’s texting, and sees his thumbs hovering hesitantly above the keyboard). 

But mostly, everything’s fine. They continue seeing each other at school, they just talk more now. Texting.

Alec finally gets his brace off after having to keep it another two weeks because of his tumble down the stairs. Dr. Starkweather reminds him to keep using his crutches, as if he may have forgotten the two aides that feel like they’re practically a part of him now. He can bend his knee again, though, so he’s feeling pretty much invincible. He starts physical therapy in a week. Things are good. 

Until one Wednesday morning in early November when Alec wakes up to a text from Magnus: ‘Skip school with me?’ Received at 3:52 AM.

‘Why?’ Alec texts back, glancing at the time. 6:30. ‘Did you get any sleep?’

‘Please, Alexander.’

Alec chews his lip. ‘Okay.’

It’s surprisingly easy to skip, it turns out. Alec tells Maryse his leg is sore and she calls the school to excuse his absence. Izzy and Jace leave without him, and Maryse is working from her office today, so she leaves not long after. When Magnus swings by, Alec greets him in the driveway.

“Hey,” he says, as Magnus frowns at the steering wheel. “Nobody’s home, if you want to come in?”

Magnus finally looks at Alec, and Alec can see the dark circles under his eyes, the lack of eyeliner that he wears nearly every day. “I was hoping we could…could go see a movie or something,” he grounds out quietly.

Alec watches him carefully. “Okay.”

They end up in an almost empty theater for some action movie that neither of them really pay much attention to. Magnus keeps fidgeting, playing with a thread hanging off his flannel shirt, and Alec is eyeing him, wondering why he’s so upset. He’s never seen him like this before.

The movie drags on for nearly two and a half hours and, afterwards, Alec suggests that they drive by a Dunkin’ and insists on paying as a thank you to Magnus for bringing him his work weeks ago. Magnus gives him a small smile and orders a hazelnut iced coffee, Alec an Americano, and each of them a breakfast sandwich. They pull into a parking spot to eat.

“So,” Alec starts, unwrapping his sandwich. He glances up but Magnus avoids his gaze. “What happened?” 

Magnus sighs heavily, and sets his drink on his knee, his hand holding it steady. He stares at something out the windshield. When he begins talking, the words pour out of him too quickly, like a dam breaking and a river flooding out. “I’ve been working on college applications,” he says, and Alec nods, because so has he, early decision applications are due in a week or so, “and — it’s so stupid — my dream school is out of reach because I was hoping to get a track scholarship but now I’m not even up for consideration.”

Alec furrows his brow, thinking through everything Magnus just said. He can relate in degrees, but not totally; even though he’s hoping to pursue vaulting in college, his attendance at his dream school doesn’t rely on a scholarship for it. His parents have told him time and time again that they can help him pay, and he knows he’s lucky, but to see Magnus in such a position makes him feel it even more acutely. “I’m… That’s not stupid at all. Magnus, I’m so sorry,” he finally says. 

Magnus just nods. “It is what it is, I suppose.” He crinkles his straw wrapper in his fist. “I just…breaking my ankle sucked, you know?” Looking out his window, he inhales deeply, dropping the wrapper in the cup holder beside him. “I love running. I love spotting for Raphael, I love making new personal records, I love the way I can’t hear anything but the gun and my own heartbeat when I’m waiting for a race to start. I loved that you’re not supposed to think while sprinting because what if it throws off your stride?” Alec watches him talk, enraptured in the passion with which the words are uttered. Magnus hardly pauses for breath; he fiddles with the keys still in the ignition, crinkles the paper on his sandwich, twirls the rings on his fingers. Alec can’t take his eyes off of him. “I love the way the track feels so solid under my feet. I love running in the rain and not being able to hear Garroway or even my teammates next to me. I even love the fucking awful nerves that turn my stomach upside down waiting for Ragnor to hand me the baton. So breaking my ankle was awful.” Magnus turns back to Alec, and his nose crinkles. His eyes are shining, wet, and Alec wants to reach out, but holds back. Magnus swallows thickly. “But I figured once it healed I’d be able to finish the season. That I’d be able to move on, I guess.”

And Alec gets it. Maybe not to the exact same degree, but he gets it. He’d been hoping senior year would be the time he’d be breaking personal records as well as state records and then finally leaving Alicante High behind. Instead, he’d torn his quad in a devastating accident and met Magnus. So maybe he doesn’t want to leave everything from Alicante behind now. Things are all very confusing, really.

Magnus rubs at his eyes and takes a bite of his sandwich as Alec fumbles for words to say. What he ends up with is, “I know this doesn’t really help, but wherever you end up…they’ll be lucky to have you, Magnus.”

The sprinter sends him a small smile. “You’re right,” he says, “that doesn’t help.” Alec snorts and shakes his head, and Magnus reaches out and grips his hand. Alec wills his palm not to sweat. “No, but really, thank you, Alexander. If breaking my ankle did nothing else at least it meant I got to meet you.” He wrinkles his nose again. “But for that to happen you had to get hurt, too, so maybe not.”

There it was, Magnus’s easy honesty again. Alec’s heart is racing, and he hesitates before saying, “I could easily say the same about my fall.” He slowly turns his hand over, twining his fingers through Magnus’s.

Magnus raises his brows at him, but doesn’t move his hand. “Really? You’ve been on crutches for like two months.”

“Uh.” Alec clears his throat. He fumbles with the paper around his sandwich with his free hand for a second. “I mean… Izzy wasn’t really wrong, when she said I haven’t really had a friend since high school began. And getting to know you has been really nice.” He shrugs. “I’m not saying I enjoyed the accident… but I’m not sure I would change how things worked out.”

Magnus looks surprised, if happy, and beautiful, and Alec feels the floaty sensation in his stomach again. It’s clear what it is now, even if he’d been lying to Izzy before about seeing Magnus as just a friend. 

Alec takes a breath, looks down at their hands clasped on his lap. “I thought I just wanted to get through high school and leave it behind, but…I don’t think I want to leave everything behind anymore.” He looks up again, and Magnus is beaming at him.

“Me neither, Alexander.”

Alec flushes, his heart thumping quickly in his chest. “No one calls me that but you, you know.” 

Magnus hums, his smile softening, and that’s it before he’s leaning in.

Alec meets him in the middle. 

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so... I know in the US high school track season is in the spring but uh. Oops?
> 
> Thank you so much for reading! <3 This was my first bang and I had an amazing time.
> 
> Please check out the fics and art by the other lovely members of the Malec Discord Server.


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